Pelosi stokes House-Senate tension

Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped Senate Republicans on Thursday for refusing to support a jobs and tax package that has been stalled in the upper chamber for weeks.

“Time and time again, Democrats in the House have sent legislation to the Senate to create jobs,” she said. “What did middle-class families ever do to Republicans in the Senate that they would snuff out every opportunity for job creation that has been sent to them?”

Story Continued Below

Pelosi’s comments are only the latest sign of tension between the House and the Senate over the Democrats’ stalled economic agenda.

Senate leaders have only 59 votes in support of the jobs bill, which would extend tax provisions and small-business lending programs and stave off cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. Another critical vote in the Senate should come Thursday evening, but Democrats still don’t appear to have the votes. Pelosi also touted Democrats’ record on tax cuts. Republicans criticized House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) earlier this week after he said the House would, “at a minimum,” not extend tax cuts for people who make more than $250,000.

“In April, when the American people paid their taxes, they paid at the lowest rate that they’ve paid since the 1950s, thanks to the middle-income tax cut that we passed last year,” Pelosi said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the jobs tax bill would add $33 billion to the deficit. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) implored Republicans to support the package in a floor speech last night, saying “it’s not too late to do what’s right.”

Democrats have scheduled another key procedural vote this evening in the Senate, but they still don’t appear to have the 60 votes needed for a breakthrough.